Mugi-Chai: A Japanese twist on masala chai tea

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I got to a point last week where swallowing cold liquids was no longer soothing on my aching throat. The scabs over my surgery sites had just come off (too much information, sorry!), and the tissue in those areas was raw and extremely painful. I was really wanting to drink something soothing and on the warmer side. I don’t drink coffee, and I don’t drink most teas, but I do drink herbal tea and love it. When I lived in Paris, I got into the habit of sitting down and having a cup of herbal tea every evening with the family I was living with. Even now, a cup of hot tea in the evenings transports me back to that living room in Paris and gives me warm fuzzies. I needed some of those warm fuzzies, so I started thinking about what would be soothing and the least irritating on my throat. Then I remembered that I still had a bit of my homemade mugicha (Japanese roasted barley tea) sitting in the refrigerator, and decided to make my own Japanese twist on the Indian masala chai tea (or “chai” as it is commonly known here in the US).

Masala chai (“spiced tea”) can be made using a wide variety of variations, but the basic concept has four components: tea, spices, sweetener, and milk. Each region has their own variation, but all of them use these same 4 basic components. For example, most chai in India is made using strong black tea, but the Kashmiri region brews their chai with gunpowder tea. The most common spices used are cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, fennel seeds, cloves, and peppercorns.

I put some mugicha in a small pot with all of the spices, brought it to a boil, then turned off the heat and let the tea steep for 15 minutes.

Then I stirred in some honey, my sweetener of choice (and perfect for a sore throat!), and then poured the tea through a fine mesh strainer into a tea pot to strain out the spices.

Then I poured myself a cup and added some milk so that it would be nice and creamy, and curled up on the couch, enjoying the wonderful aromatic steam rising out of my tea cup. The chai was delicious—flavorful without being overpowering, with wonderful spicy and floral notes delivered by the different spices, and a hint of roasted barley flavor peeking through. A bit of Japan and India in a cup, plus a comforting reminder of Paris, one of my favorite places in the entire world. I call that a good cup of tea!

1. In a medium saucepan, mix together the mugicha, cinnamon stick, cardamom, cloves, star anise, and ginger together. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Turn the heat off and allow it to steep for 15 minutes.

2. Stir in the honey. Strain into a tea pot for serving, or straight into tea cups. Add milk to taste.

Wow, chai made with mugi-cha? That actually sounds REALLY interesting! I think I would like to try your recipe. I have some roasted barley that I got from a friend, he grandfather grows it and roasts it himself. I will try it with that, it should be wonderful!

I’ve been making chai of my own quite a bit recently, and have my own recipes to post very soon. But I had never thought of using mugi-cha! Since I can’t have caffeine after a certain time of day I love the idea!

There’s no beverage quite so comforting as a nice cup of tea or herbal tisane. Of course, I favor black teas (the English thing) but sometimes enjoy a nice herbal concoction. So glad this was soothing to your poor throat. I so hope doing the presentation yesterday didn’t set you back.